Chair's Message
It is Hip to be Square!
George M. Cohen, CPA
“Geek is Chic.” Can you believe it? I am still trying to cope with “Technology is here to stay!” And, just when I thought I had identified all the generations in the workplace, I learn of the eco-boomers. They are the dot.comers who take their cues from each other. In fact, through e-communities and buildings, social networking sites are reaching 45 percent of the active Web population. Can you imagine where this is going? At the recent AICPA Council meeting, a keynote speaker talked about current trends in technology. One trend is greater productivity gaps between organizations that can effectively use technology versus those that do not. This is probably not a surprise to anyone. Another trend is mashups, which combine two sites to provide service organized architectures, such as www.zillow.com, which combines Yahoo maps and housing information to provide housing values. As this trend continues, the combinations of sites will provide even more data to be managed than ever before. As a result of these and other trends, we can expect continued lowering of technology costs based on free and advertising-supported software, and the opportunity to use technology-based business intelligence tools to make huge advances in decision-making. “Think of moving data into wisdom,” I am told. CPAs understand driving standards across industries in order to facilitate transactions that are auditable and automated. Learning to effectively use the newest technological tools presents opportunities to provide value-added services by helping your clients and employers increase profitability. Sounds great, huh? But who among us, the mature and baby boomer generations, is going to do this? There’s certainly not enough of us. Now think of the great opportunity to promote the profession as exciting and critical through our expertise, or desire to have expertise, by using these new tools. I cannot think of a better way to attract, motivate and retain young CPAs given this environment that will move our respective businesses forward. This is the “Geek is Chic” part. This month’s AZ CPA focuses on technology. I would like to invite you to read this information with a new bias. One that suggests you simply cannot afford to abdicate technology decisions and opportunities, and that you should, at least, gain an understanding of that which you have delegated, so you, too, can join the buzz of networking. One other trend recently caught my attention: The pace of change is quickening. Talk to you soon... AZ CPA – January 2007
